July long weekend! We went on a trip to Iki, an island in Nagasaki. The island is famous for Alcohol, beaches and things shaped like monkeys, so pre-trip anticipation of good times were high, and Iki did not disappoint.

We took the ferry on saturday morning, picked up rental cars and after setting up our tents headed to beach number 1!

If Iki has a downfall, it’s its lack of places to eat. Every restaurant we tried either had no space for 10 people or was closed. We ended up at a curry and beef bowl restaurant with mediocre food for dinner, but had a great time the rest of the night. The next morning started with bang after we found the number one tourist attraction on Iki.

Saruiwa: A rock shaped like a monkey.

From the northern end of the island you can catch a short ferry to a smaller island with a beach and nothing else. It was gorgeous. Beautiful beach, clear blue water, it was hard to believe we were still in Japan.

We returned, extremely sunburnt, from this island and found the only grocery store on the island and bought enough meat to have our own BBQ at the campground. Yakisoba, grilled veggies and delicious meat.

It was a wonderful weekend and I’ll likely post more on Iki later, haven’t organized my photos yet, but posting to appease some dearly missed friends!